Looking Ahead

PERSPECTIVES What’s NEXT? PROMINENT ALUMNI OFFER A VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF STEM EDUCATION. INSIDE THE SCHOOL, EDUCATORS TELL US HOW BROOKLYN TECH’S DOING — AND WHERE IT’S GOING.

STEM EDUCATION’S NEW JOB: A VIEW FROM INDUSTRY

MORE THAN 500 YEARS AGO, LEONARDO da Vinci developed conceptual designs for the parachute, airplane and helicopter, all of which took centuries to become reality. In 1962, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, creators of “The Jetsons” cartoon, imagined audio/visual communications, smart screens, digital watches and shoes, robotic help, 3-D printing and drones. All came to pass in decades.

Today, the fastest supercomputer performs at a speed of 415 petaflops (quadrillions of operations per second).

To prepare students, education needs to introduce them to systems thinking—so important because the critical elements and aspects of healthy, sustainable societies are quite interdependent. Think of the systems which we rely on every day: energy, water resources, waste management, transportation and communications, all technology-driven infrastructure assets.

Now incorporate the systems associated with public safety, healthcare, law enforcement, banking and commerce, and one gains an appreciation for the interconnectivity of this “system of systems.” Optimal solutions to societal needs must incorporate systems-thinking approaches. STEM education of the 21st century: that’s your challenge. ■

By Anthony Bartolomeo ’70

A STRONG CURRICULUM ISN’T ENOUGH. UNDERSTANDING THE POWER OF EXPONENTIAL GROWTH IS CRITICAL.

Just 10 years ago, the most advanced supercomputer performed at 2.5 petaflops.

This is the power of exponential growth: call it “tech-celeration.” Understanding it is essential to projecting the needs and challenges that society will call on STEM professionals to solve.

That inevitably places the responsibility on our education system, particularly STEM education. Delivering a strong curriculum in math and science—the hallmark of STEM education’s first century—is now just the beginning. Imparting an appreciation for the pace at which technology is accelerating, and for how life-long learning will be critical for career success and the ability to significantly contribute to society’s well-being, is STEM education’s new job.

Life in the next 100 years is likely to be influenced by a few major trends in the process of evolving today: climate change, alternative energy, artificial intelligence, autonomous transportation, and smart cities. Anthony Bartolomeo is the retired president of engineering firm Pennoni and a driving force in the American Society of Civil Engineering’s Future World Vision initiative.

THERE’S MORE TO LEARN. START SOONER.

THE PLACE TO START THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE OF STEM EDUCATION, at Brooklyn Tech and elsewhere, is the wellspring of tomorrow’s science and technology talent—the elementary and middle schools.

One need not be an expert to conclude that the present situation is not good. Mostly, science, technology, and engineering—the “STE” of “STEM”— are all but ignored in elementary school, though some aspects of science are taught. Why? I think that a – if not the – main reason is that the vast majority of teachers in these schools have little background in these subjects, perhaps because there has never been much emphasis on teaching them at this stage of education. Concomitantly, teachers of these grades are usually not welltrained in these subjects. If teachers could be motivated and the needed funding made available, a massive national effort could be undertaken to substantially increase the competence of these teachers in these subjects and in how to teach them most effectively. Whether such is achievable, given the realities of our present culture and economic situation, is certainly questionable. One prerequisite for success might well be a change in the status of the teachers, exemplified by their pay. By Irwin At the high school level, there is an additional problem. Although sciences are part of the standard curriculum, the textbooks are mostly behemoths that contain Shapiro tons of material, in total far too much for most students— ’47 or teachers—to absorb. Why is this? I do not know. But I suspect it is in major part the profit motive of textbook manufacturers.

WHAT’S AHEAD?

Now that I have painted this somewhat gloomy picture of pre-college STEM education, what more attractive possibility would I like to see ahead? Given my profession as a scientist, I will concentrate far more on the “SM” than on the “TE.”

Because of space limits, let me consider only trends now visible. As technology continues to develop, more and more data will be stored in less and less physical space. An obvious implication: less and less need for students to remember things, certainly not details. It might seem that all a person would need to learn is how to identify and then access information from storage devices or, equivalently, “the cloud.” However, I believe that people would have to learn much more. To identify what to seek, they will need to understand at least the fundamentals of the subject they want to master and how to use the material they will be able to retrieve from the cloud. One can hope that the problem of behemoth textbooks might be naturally solved.

BRIGHT PROSPECTS

Another major trend is science’s increasing observations of how nature works and the availability of these observations via “big data.” Here the prospects are very bright. Data are being collected on nature’s behavior in all sorts of ways from all

By Dorothy Teneketges Bennett ’82

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PERSPECTIVES

RE-IMAGINING STEM EDUCATION

WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, machine learning, and big data rapidly evolving and becoming integral to nearly all aspects of daily living, one of the most pressing challenges for high school students is to truly understand what it means to be human in this age of algorithms and complex societal challenges.

What that requires, I believe, is having the ability to critically question, apply, and reimagine how these new systems can aid in decision-making and problem- solving to benefit the lives of everyone.

In some ways, these times call for what has been the ethos of Brooklyn Technical High School since its inception: an engineering mindset. The engineering mindset is not merely about designing and mastering the latest cutting-edge technologies. It’s about having the attitudes, knowledge and skills to move beyond being consumers of the world to being creators and shapers of solutions that improve the lives of our communities, deepen humanity and preserve the natural world.

What does this mean for the future of STEM education, especially at a premier technical high school like Brooklyn Tech?

In my 30 years of researching and developing STEM education experiences, I’ve observed this about the most impactful programs in times of great technological change: they often focus on cultivating students’ habits of mind in the context of solving problems that are personally meaningful, interdisciplinary and project-based.

The American Association of Engineering Education has a roadmap to get us there. It has identified the habits of mind that prepare young people for jobs of the future and foster active citizenship. They apply broadly to what a 21st century well-rounded education for the future could be:

Optimism: supporting students to always think about how things can be improved;

Collaboration: learning how to work in teams and actively seek out diverse perspectives;

Persistence: embracing and learning from failure and trying again;

Creativity: seeing patterns and new relationships in the world and imagining new ways of doing things;

Conscientiousness: expressing empathy for others and weighing ethical

PARTNERSHIPS FOR A CHANGING WORLD

CELEBRATING BROOKLYN TECH’S CENtennial provides the opportunity to not only reflect upon Brooklyn Tech’s leadership role in STEM education over the past 100 years, but to look ahead and see how Tech will continue to be a force and a resource in shaping the future of STEM education.

The visionary Dr. Albert Colston, Tech’s founding principal, had spent considerable time researching the nation’s top specialized technical high schools. This enabled him to articulate the need for a modern technical high school, and to outline a curriculum model that incorporated theory as well as application. He emphasized the difference between a vocational and technical education, and he advanced a vision of developing young men equipped to be leaders in the emerging “machine age.”

Colston knew that a successful secondary education was, as John Dewey noted, “not preparation for life, but rather life itself.” Technites were given extensive leadership opportunities in service squads, honor societies, clubs, departmental publications, the school newspaper, and academic and sports teams.

These activities were, and remain today, integral components, along with internships and work-based experiences, of the transformational Brooklyn Tech education. When coupled with a powerful curriculum that focuses on problem solving and critical thinking, they are the core of a high-quality STEM education.

A VITAL PARTNERSHIP

As Brooklyn Tech continues shaping STEM education, it has the Alumni Foundation as its strategic partner. This is essential to help generate resources to support Tech’s enhanced STEM program.

Tech’s alma mater song challenges graduates to “bring honor and praise” to Tech’s name. This challenge drove the formation of the Alumni Foundation in 1983. Its dual purpose is to bring alumni together and to be a resource helping Tech sustain its high-quality education. In addition to raising millions of dollars toward that goal, the Foundation, working with the school, developed a modernization plan that continues to enable Tech to fully prepare students for the digital age.

With its highly diverse population of 6,000 students annually, Brooklyn Tech is by far the largest specialized high school in the country. This amazing size makes Tech significant in addressing the need for well-prepared graduates to ultimately enter STEM-related fields.

Tech’s capacity and unique facility enable its 18 academic majors (including such 21st century fields as biological science, environmental science, robotics and software engineering) to encompass the many dimensions of modern STEM education and be an incubator of innovative curricula.

Tech’s majors provide student explorations in areas of interest that usually do not take place until college. Combining academic preparation with a career orientation enables students to see the interconnectedness between the classroom and the “real world” ahead.

The civil engineering major’s materials testing lab, the law and society major’s moot courtroom, and the aerospace major’s flight simulator lab are but three examples of special facilities that actualize learning. All Tech majors encompass these experiences and, in many ways, define a Tech education.

A CHANGING WORLD

For Brooklyn Tech to remain a leader, the Alumni Foundation and the school form partnerships that affiliate the majors with colleges, universities, corporations, stakeholders and professional organizations. For example, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), New York Institute of Technology, Stevens Institute of Technology, NYU Tandon, Nanotronics, Con Edison, and National Grid are linked to the mechatronics major.

These partners work with Tech faculty to review curriculum and to explore and identify new avenues for laboratory development so the labs fully complement the major curriculum. They develop internship experiences relevant to the majors, preparing students and teachers in real time for a changing world.

Tech has chapters or clubs of professional organizations including the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), American Institute of Architects (AIA) and National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). Such chapters do not usually exist in high schools. More of these connections will be created, benefiting Tech students and becoming models for other schools.

ACCESS TO PATHWAYS An amazing Tech education should be accessible to all young people. It is important that Brooklyn Tech be a leader in creating pathways to address the under representation of African American, Latinx, and women in STEM fields. We started in 2013 with the National Grid/Brooklyn Tech Alumni Foundation/Brooklyn Tech Middle School STEM Pipeline program as a pioneering effort to attract students from low-income communities to STEM education generally, and specifically to Tech. Today our partnership with ASCE has developed the Future World Vision STEM Pathways Consortium. This ground-breaking initiative pairs Brooklyn Tech with seven Brooklyn middle schools and strategically connects school leaders, specialized faculty, and students.

Our journey in the years ahead will be exciting as Brooklyn Tech remains a STEM leader and becomes an even greater resource for other schools. This will build essential bridges that create a continuum for middle school, high school, and college STEM education. Our programs will be replicated in other schools. Tech will be a center for professional development for teachers throughout New York City.

All this will be made possible with the collaborative participation of our alumni, partners, and the Department of Education—and Brooklyn Tech will continue to shape the future of STEM education for the next 100 years. ■

By Mathew M. Mandery ’61 UPDATING ALBERT COLSTON’S VISION FOR TODAY — AND TOMORROW Alumni Foundation co-founder and Chief Educational Officer Mathew M. Mandery ’61 is the only Tech alum to serve as Brooklyn Tech Principal (1983 -87).

PATHWAYS TO FUTURE CAREERS

It should come as no surprise to alumni that their alma mater is forging new pathways to keep our school’s status as the nation’s leader in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and student achievement. Our Electrical and Software Engineering (ESE) programs are taking action to meet the demand for future innovators and productive contributors to American society.

The vision of Schools Chancellor David C. Banks is “that each and every one of our students graduates with a plan and a pathway to a rewarding career, long-term economic security, and equipped to be a positive force for change in our communities and our city.” This aligns with Tech founder Dr. Albert Colston’s 1918 goal of “preparing young men for the workforce.”

Tech’s solution remains a robust course offering within the majors system, continually modified based on industry trends and data.

Some givens stand at the forefront. Fact: most industries will require employees with some knowledge of computer science. Along with obvious high-

tech fields like artificial intelligence and enterprise software, Forbes’ Technology Council listed these industries in need of programmers: government and social services, agriculture, education and even “traditional industries.” The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 12% growth in the IT industry by 2028. Job titles will include developers, database developers, dev ops engineers, full stack developers and security.

Mindful that high school students who take Advanced Placement (AP) computer science (Java) are eight times more likely to major in computer science in college, we are growing through expansion of computer labs and increased hiring; faculty has doubled in just five years. Software engineering is the most sought-after major in the school; demand for seats exceeds supply.

There are significant efforts towards inclusivity, equity, and access. External supplemental education organizations like Girls Who Code, which has a chapter in-house, and AllStarCode, a program for young men of color, address some of the inequities in the demographic makeup in computer science. As a result, we are recipients for three years in a row of the College Board AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award for closing the field’s gender gap.

The lodestar of our program’s trajectory: a network of the best educators paying it forward to future generations through teaching. Many electrical and software engineering department faculty hold degrees in electrical engineering, computer engineering or computer science. Our teachers bring work experience from across the industry, including Goldman Sachs, Harris Corporation, Audible Inc. (an Amazon company) and Standard & Poor’s. Specialized high school backgrounds loom large on our team, with six graduates from Tech, Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, and Staten Island Tech.

We create opportunities for students by mandating that all sophomore students take AP Computer Science Principles (AP CSP), the equivalent of a college first-semester introductory computing course.

Our major’s classes provide foundations in Java, Python, HTML 5, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), JavaScript, PHP server-side programming, transistor logic, circuit building with microcontrollers, data security, security architecture and SQL. To accommodate such a breadth, the major has four semester-long intensive courses: Web Development, IT Infrastructure, Data Warehousing and Analytics, and Cyber Security.

Augmenting this robust sequence are internship experiences with companies like Amazon, Con Edison, and Deutsche Bank. We guarantee that our students graduate having had opportunities to encounter engaging and relevant problems.

Tech is enormous, as you know from having walked these halls as students. Our programs must adapt to scale with increased enrollment so we can continue to meet future technology-driven trends. As large as Tech is, we can nimbly adjust to whatever the future brings, because at Tech we thrive the most when presented with the toughest problems. It is a running constant that we are Technites, and we will always rise to the challenge of the moment. ■

By Rosabeth Eddy

A ROBUST COURSE OFFERING, TAUGHT BY THE BEST EDUCATORS PAYING IT FORWARD

Rosabeth Eddy, an assistant principal, supervised Tech’s computer science and engineering program for several years.